Chicago Clutter Horror Stories: Why Regular Cleaning Saves More Than Just Space

Between work, family, and enjoying everything Chicago offers, keeping your space clean can feel impossible. We get it—life moves fast here. But letting clutter build up can lead to some seriously scary situations. Here’s why staying on top of your space matters, and how a little maintenance can save you from disaster.

The Hoarding Tale That Shocked New York

Hoarding often starts with good intentions—saving things for later, avoiding waste, or holding onto memories. But it can spiral into dangerous territory fast. The famous Collyer brothers’ story shows how extreme clutter can become life-threatening. Their New York brownstone became so packed with books, trash, and booby traps that one brother tragically died trapped under debris. It’s a heartbreaking reminder that clutter isn’t just messy—it can be hazardous.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider reaching out for deep cleaning help to reset your space before it gets out of hand.

Lost Money in the Mess

Clutter doesn’t just take up space—it can cost you cash. One client found a bag of unopened baby shower cards stuffed under a pile of laundry. Inside were checks, cash, and gift cards—thousands of dollars—all forgotten for years. Out of sight, out of mind is real, especially when things get buried.

If you’re short on time, fast cleaning services can help you uncover what’s hiding in those piles.

Safety Hazards You Can’t Ignore

Blocked doors, hidden dishes in ovens, and cluttered exits aren’t just inconvenient—they’re safety risks. One homeowner learned this the hard way when a garage fire left them trapped because their back door was blocked by boxes. They escaped through a window, but it was a close call.

Don’t wait for an emergency. Clean your apartment regularly to keep exits clear and your home safe.

Hidden Dangers in Your Home

Leaks & Structural Damage

One client discovered a slow sink leak that had gone unnoticed for 20 years because of clutter under the cabinet. The water rotted the floor joists, causing serious structural damage. Her bathroom was at risk of collapsing—all from a small, hidden leak.

Regular apartment cleaning helps you spot issues like this before they become disasters.

Unwanted Guests: Mice & Mold

Clutter creates perfect hiding spots for pests. One family struggled with a mouse infestation because their home had too many hiding spots. Under the sofa, they found a nest of baby mice—an unsettling surprise no one wants.

Mold is another silent threat. Basements, closets, and packed storage areas with poor airflow can develop toxic mold. One family lost almost all their clothing, linens, and belongings to black mold after a water heater leak went unnoticed under piles of laundry.

If you need someone to clean my apartment and tackle those damp, cluttered areas, professional help can make all the difference.

Lost Inheritance & Family Stress

After a relative’s passing, one family discovered a hoarded home filled with junk—and a locked box containing diamonds and rare coins hidden in the attic. While they eventually found the treasures, the process created family tension and stress.

Keeping important documents and valuables organized isn’t just practical—it’s a gift to your loved ones.

Decluttering Is Maintenance, Not a Marathon

You don’t wait for your car to break down to change the oil. The same goes for your home. Tackling clutter in short, regular sessions prevents horror stories from happening.

• Start with trash—get the obvious stuff out first
• Check under sinks for leaks
• Clear doors and windows for safety
• Declutter damp areas like basements and storage rooms

If it feels like too much, schedule a cleaning with a trusted Chicago cleaning company to help you stay ahead of the mess.

Even the scariest clutter situations can be resolved with a little time and effort. Whether you’re doing it yourself or getting help cleaning my place, taking action now can save you from bigger problems later.

Are you ready for some clutter horror stories? Not only am I going to share terrifying tales from working with clients, some things in my own home when I was a super slob, but also the biggest and worst hoarding house in history. So, buckle up. It’s time to get terrified. Also, don’t just passively listen. I’m going to be like doing little chores and organizing, decluttering, pairing socks. So, let’s body double and get stuff done together. Let’s start by talking about the worst hoarded house in history. You’ve probably heard this story. I’m going to share it anyways while I pair socks because I hate this task and I need motivation. The Kolier brothers had the most terrifying hoarding story of all time. These brothers were born like a bazillion years ago back like right after the depression or around the depression and they were rich rich. Okay. Their family was like super loaded and the boys both went to university. I think it was like Columbia University and Homer became a lawyer and Langley became an engineer and he also had other degrees because they loved reading and loved to learn. They were also kind of eccent eccentric and I don’t know if it’s because their parents were first cousins which they were first cousins or just because you know rich people are weird but either way after the parents passed away and left them the mansion in New York this brownstone mansion the brothers got a little otter. They started collecting things and then Homer actually went blind. He had like hemorrhages behind his eyes and went blind. So Langley dedicated his time to taking care of his brother. He bought every medical book. He had like 15,000 15,000 medical books. He also started collecting all of the newspapers because Homer loved reading the newspaper before he went blind. So he wanted him to be able to like go back when he got his eyesight back and read all of the newspapers that he had missed, which is like aw, you know, I feel like hoarding always does come from a really good place in the beginning. It comes from a place of kindness. It comes from a place of wanting to help, wanting to not be wasteful. But it takes a turn. Okay. So as Homer’s health deteriorated, he became paralyzed and he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t bathe himself. This is when Langley got even more intense and more paranoid because it was like dark times, okay? People were poor. Not a lot of people like they were struggling financially and Homer and Langley were rich rich. So there was rumors. They were hoarding money in the house. So people were breaking into the house to try to steal things which made Langley, you know, stressed. And because he was an engineer, what do engineers do? They make booby traps, you know, booby traps. And so he started like booby trapping the house. And then he would only go out at midnight so he wouldn’t leave his brother alone during the day. But all the shops were closed. So he was like dumpster diving for food. And anytime people were throwing out trash on his street, he was collecting it and bringing it home because, you know, isolation. and makes you kind of cuckoo. And before you know it, things got bad and the house was like bad bad. And then as what always happens with hoarders, they stopped paying the bills. It wasn’t that they didn’t have the money. It’s just he probably couldn’t find the bills honestly or going out to the bank was a thing. And so their electricity got shut off and the water got shut off and you know, all the utilities and the bank was trying to foreclose on the house. Finally, the police showed up and Langley just wrote them a check for like all the money he owed because they had the money. That wasn’t the issue. The clutter was the issue. Fast forward to a few years later and the neighbors were complaining about the smell. You know where this is going. I mean, the house always smelled because they had trash and rats and mold, but it was bad bad. And when the police showed up, neither of the brothers answered the door, but the doors were also blocked with books and things. Like literally every window and every door was blocked for safety. And also he had tunnels for booby traps. So the police went through the window and they found Homer. He had passed in a chair. And when they did an autopsy, they found that he actually passed because like dehydration and he starved to death, which is so sad. They had a funeral and Langley didn’t show up, which is weird because he loved his brother so much. So then they were like, “Okay, maybe he’s still in the house.” They had to have teams work for months, months, because the house was so full. taking things out of windows, lining up all the trash and the antiques and the books in the streets in order to keep clearing and digging and looking for Langley. Finally, months later, they found him at the bottom of a pile. He had been crawling through a tunnel to bring food to his brother, and he tripped one of his many booby traps, and thousands of tons of clutter fell and trapped him. And I know this is such a sad story and I mean, you know, it’s like what a bummer, Cass, but I also feel like it’s such a warning tale because like I said, hoarding always starts out from this place of kindness and this place of like good intention. I’m collecting this for this and this, but it becomes this vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of. And the only way to get out is to expose ourselves to decluttering because it’s uncomfortable and it’s scary. But start with trash. Get things out. So, you know, we never have a situation like the colar house because that’s sad and crazy and terrifying. Do you know what’s really scary? My junk drawer. It’s actually not that bad, but I thought I would take a few minutes to tackle it while I share a real life clutter story that happened years ago to a family member. I was helping a family member clean her bedroom. And this is wasn’t a hoarding situation. There was just a lot of laundry clothes that needed to be put away. Most of it clean, but like all over the floor. So, as we’re digging through, we’re like decluttering, making piles, we’re hanging clothes up, we’re putting clothes into the wash. I come across a like grocery bag at the bottom of the pile and inside was filled with a bunch of cards for a baby shower. A baby shower that was like 7 years earlier. In these cards were all the gift cards, all the checks, all the cash, which the cash was good, but the gift cards, this is back in the day when they expired, and all the checks, like literally thousands of dollars wasted because it was hidden under a pile. And for a lot of people, I know what you’re thinking, like, who’s going to lose money, Cass? This is so common to forget about gift cards because it’s out of sight, out of mind, or to not open the mail or to stash it somewhere and there could be checks in there. I will tell you that decluttering almost always finds money. So, go through your junk drawer, go through the spot where you probably stash gift cards, find them, pull them out, have a gift card, treat yourself to that dinner or go to the movies. Use it or lose it, my friends, because clutter costs you money. I’m taking this time while I’m hanging out with you to tackle some spots that are like out of control. It’s like a reset so that I never have clutter horror stories. I’m doing all these little areas. While I’m doing this, this reminds me of my own clutter horror story, which is when I was my absolute messiest, I was not good at doing dishes. Like, I would wait a week or two, and there was always dirty dishes everywhere. And then if people were coming over, which wasn’t often, but when they did, I would just hide the dirty dishes. And I would hide them like in cabinets and in the oven. And I think you know where this is going. On multiple occasions, I forgot I had dishes in my oven and I preheated it. And one time I had like a plastic Tupperware bowls and stuff in there which melted melted in an apartment which is a rental. Plastic all on the bottom, all everywhere. Stunk to high heaven. Smoke alarms going off. Uh, yep. And you think that would be the only time, but no, it was multiple times. So, don’t hide dishes in your stove. That’s just a PSA. But also, now that I’m doing the whole firefighter thing, let’s get real. Clutter is a safety hazard and it is a fire hazard. I actually went to a fire call not that long ago where the homeowner was trapped in the home. Not that it was like a crazy hoarding situation, but there was a fire, which was like the battery plugged in in the garage. It’s always lithium batteries, by the way. Burst into flames. So, the garage was on fire and it was like the carport garage, but that’s actually how they entered the home. And the back door they had never used, so it was just piled with clutter and boxes. Unfortunately, that was the only other way to get out of the house. They ended up going out a window. But the point is, make sure you’re not blocking doors and windows with clutter because the struggle is real. Also, this already looks better. What are you tackling? Let me know in the comments below what space you’re tackling. Let’s do it in a few minutes so it doesn’t turn into a horror story. Okay, here is a story that happened to a client of mine that is so common, maybe you can relate. It was a virtual client and I was helping her declutter. She was like 65, not a crazy messy home. She had a one-story with an unfinished basement, but it wasn’t bad, but she wanted to make her life easier because she was retiring. So, we were going through her entire house just doing a declutter. And her under the cabinet looked very similar to mine, which is cluttered. Uh, so what we were doing was taking everything out of her bathroom under the cabinet so we could reorganize it virtually. She was doing this. I was just like coaching her. Anyways, as we started pulling things out, as she was pulling things out, she discovered that her sink had a leak. And she had lived in this home for like 40 years. And she must have had this leak for like 20 years. Like a little mild leak. Just drip drip drip. But because just like this, look how much clutter. Because there was so much clutter, she didn’t notice. And because the basement was unfinished, again, it was a small leak, she didn’t notice. But what happened was the water sat back here with all the stuff and actually ate away the bottom of the cabinet. It sat It was wet for so long. It wasn’t mold. No. No. Nigh nigh. It had like eaten away at the floor and the joists all rotted. the basement, whole ceiling in the B all rotted like structural damage. She had to have a structural engineer come in and they had to redo her floor joist. Her entire He said that her like bathroom could have collapsed. It could have like fallen in because everything was so just wet and rotted again from a little bit of clutter under the kitchen sink or under her bathroom sink. So, right now, I want you to go declutter and make sure you don’t have a leak. Take things out. Get rid of stuff you don’t need because this is surprisingly one of the most important areas to make sure isn’t cluttered in your entire home. I’m not afraid of a lot of things. That’s not true. I’m afraid of a lot of things. But there’s one like thing that for some reason just irrationally gives me the heebie-jebies, and that is mice. So, I’m going to share a story with you with a client that I had while I’m decluttering my drawers because these are bad. All right? Don’t judge me. All right? So, I had a client who I was actually volunteering. So, I was doing it at no cost. She had won a makeover. So, I had gone to her house and it wasn’t crazy bad. Like, it was like cluttered, but definitely not hoarder. There was like a little bit of food, but it wasn’t dirty. Anyways, she had said that they were battling like a mouse problem. And this is why she really wanted my help because they had the exterminator come in and lay a bunch of traps and yet it was still just mice on mice on mice. You know what I mean? And going in her space, I was seeing on the kitchen counter, you could see like mouse poo. And mice don’t have bladders, so they’re just urinating everywhere. And even though she was cleaning up the mouse poo, there was just more mouse poo. I’ve had mice, too. It happens. Okay. But adding to like the clutter problem meant that they could hide. And the exterminator was like, “You have too many hiding spots, too many snacks. I can’t get a handle on the mice until you’ve decluttered like a lot more. So, anyways, I’m going into the space and I got the heaves. I got the heebie-jebies cuz I see the mouse poo. I can hear the scurrying while I’m helping her declutter and organize in the ceiling and I’m just holy crap. I don’t I don’t know. Mice not a big fan. Anyways, moved out the sofa so that I could have room for sorting the toys and all the stuff. moved the sofa and under the sofa was a big nest full of squirming pink little baby mice. Just so so many mice so so many mice. So many mice. And I just What do you do? Like they’re babies. You don’t want to throw them out. You don’t want to kill them. You want them to live. But not in the house. Okay. But not in the house. This had a happy ending. We ended up relocating the mice outside, decluttering, and then her mouse problem was solved. But if you have, it’s winter is coming, a mouse, and you have clutter, very quickly, it can become out of control. So, that’s a terrifying tale that declutter stuff. Today, I have my own horror story to share with you. You know that this house that we moved into 2 years ago has some water issues. What you don’t know is that there’s a cold storage room off in the basement here. It’s like it’s just Yeah, cold storage, I guess. Unfinished. But it leaks when it rains really bad. It leaks. I did not know this. And I put all the like the organizing products, the excess in there. So, not only did the Container Store for years send me all of their products, but I makeover a lot of people’s homes. And so if I have like a little bit of extra stuff, I keep it so I can use it in other homes that I’m making over in the future so that I don’t have to charge anyone. What I didn’t realize was that it leaked and it got moldy. Like so moldy, my friends. Look like these draw. And thankfully it’s not black mold. Uh because that’s horrifying. But this is probably I got to do a deep clean. But this is probably the worst place in my home. But also mold is the thing that I see with clutter more than anything else. Not only like under sinks and from leaks, but in basement or in places where there’s not a lot of air circulation because it’s a storage area and everything is super packed. So, while I declutter this space and while I get things out, I want to share a story with you from helping someone for Hot Mess House. So, when I was doing the HGTV show Hot Mess House, we had a pilot episode that actually never aired with a local family. They were struggling financially and they were really struggling with clutter. There was just stuff absolutely everywhere. And during the process, we decluttered the kitchen and we needed a spot to store all the camera gear, which was in their upstairs bedrooms. So, they took all the laundry and all the stuffed animals and all the stuff that was all over the floor, and they put it into the pile of the laundry room, like added to the laundry room mess, which was already waist high. They had three children. So, just imagine the amount of laundry when everything was dirty and everything now was on the floor. It was almost eventually like to my eyeballs. And then we decided as a film crew, why not make over their basement, too? So, when I headed into that laundry room and started picking through, the deeper I got, the worse the smell got. And every layer I was uncountering, I was noticing dampness and just a nastiness. And what had happened was their water heater had leaked in the utility room in the laundry room and they didn’t know and it was leaking for a long time and the clothes was just soaking it up. And add to that like old lunches and backpacks and stuffed animals and probably bacteria and it was full of mold caked. The clothing was black with black mold and I had no choice. I had to talk to the homeowner. We had to throw it out. We had to throw out all their clothing. This is like three children. Almost every eye article of clothing they owned, plus all the parents’ clothing, plus all the sheets, towels, blankets, their backpacks, everything was just in a pile covered in mold, which was so sad. But again, like if you in your basement have piles or stacked boxes, just this last weekend, part of take your house back, I had two different people in our Take Your House Back community that shared pictures of the mold they uncovered in their basement when clearing out the clutter and clearing out the boxes. Mold they never knew that was there and which causes a serious health concern. So, get to decluttering those damp areas, friends, because clutter can literally be killing you. Toxic mold is deadly. Take it serious. That was a lot of work. I’m sweaty. But honestly, it was probably like a half an hour. I threw out two trash bags and an entire box of moldy stuff. But everything that is left does not have mold on it. I obviously have to wash everything with bleach before I use it. That goes without saying, but I was still a able to like salvage a lot of this inventory. We fixed the leak so we don’t have to worry about that. I’m going to run the dehumidifier in here. And this just taking a half an hour to clear out the excess clutter and like make sure that there’s airflow probably saved us from a mold emergency in the future. So, check your basement, check those damp spots, and make sure you’re taking action on the clutter before it gets moldy right now. Are these clutter stories scaring the crap right out of your house? I’m hoping they’re motivating. Uh, I’m going to work on a doom closet, which is my memory closet, while sharing one of the honestly just craziest, saddest stories of all, which is lost inheritance. Yeah, we’ve talked about rodents and structural damage and we’ve talked about toxic mold, but losing out on memories or losing out on passing important things to your family once you’re gone is actually for me, I think anyways, the most terrifying tale of all. After the death of a relative, we discovered he was a hoarder. The rooms were full to the ceiling with junk and other relatives agreed to help. But the main mission was to look for the will or any other documents like linking to all the stuff. These other relatives helped themselves to whatever like trinkets they could find, anything they found that was valuable. Even though everyone agreed not to take anything. And after like a month, it was so stressful. Tensions were running high. Finally, I managed to find the will. This made the process better because my father-in-law was listed as the beneficiary of the property and everything inside as well of all the accounts, which means it got rid of all the other, you know, relatives that were just helping themselves. And they were also like furious and demanding things. One of the grubby relatives, you know, the people who were like trying to get things, asked if they had found any diamonds or rare coins, and they were told that they were promised them if this loved one passed. But they didn’t find anything like that. Just brushed it off as like nonsense that they were hoping to find some diamonds in the mess. But on the last day of like the nightmare clearing out the house, this poster’s wife went up into the attic and guess what was in a random box up there? It was a lock box containing 2.5 karat diamonds and 20 sets of coins minted from 1956 in mint condition. The coins were uncirculated and they were worth like $100 a box. So guess what? It was a really good thing. They went through everything with a fine tooth comb. But don’t do this to your family. This is why it’s so important not only to have important papers in its own spot, but important memories, too. And that’s what this closet is for me. This is where we keep our memory bins. So, having it be this horrible mess is not efficient. And it’s not honoring the most important thing in our home. So, I’m so glad I took just a few minutes to tackle it today. And I’m done. I’m done this room that’s been honestly uh embarrassing and kind of this like nagging to-do for so long and it was under a half an hour to tackle the space. So, while I’m sharing, you know, terrifying tales with you, I also hope that you’re seeing that while clutter can be scary, decluttering doesn’t have to be. It’s quick and it’s easy and it’s kind of like changing the oil in your car. Like we don’t wait till our car blows up to get the oil changed. It’s maintenance, man. And that’s what decluttering is. Before we have any of these like horror story catastrophes, we can just go through and declutter. I tackled all the scariest, worst, most cluttered spaces in my home today in under two hours. And I totally recommend you give it a try, too. I hope you got a ton of stuff done today. You’re feeling so proud of yourself. I’m definitely proud of you. Let me know if you have any clutter horror stories that you’ve heard. Put them in the comments below. You’re going to motivate us all to declutter and have less clutter so we don’t have a terrifying tale in our own homes. And thank you so much for those of you who have stayed to the end. I thought it’d be really fun to share the thing we’re most afraid of because it’s almost Halloween. Do you have a fear? Emily is afraid of snakes. I’m afraid of Freddy Krueger. It’s a long story, but honestly, no. I watched Freddy Krueger maybe like at five or six with my sister when she was babysitting and then my stepdad did this whole thing where he called down the vents. It was the8s. Okay, crap was weird back then. The point is, I’m still to this day terrified. I can’t even have like a foot out of the covers. Somehow the sheet protects me from Freddy Krueger and all other monsters in the night. It’s that thin sheet. It saves me. I’m also really afraid of confined spaces. So, I’m claustrophobic and I’m afraid of heights and I’m not a fan of mice. I’ve told you. But, yep, mice is a big one. It’s up there. Let me know if you have some weird fear. Not afraid of clowns, but I heard that’s a thing. Like an actual thing. People are terrified of clowns. I don’t know. There’s so many strange things to be afraid of. Let me know if you have a weird phobia in the comments below. And I’ll see you guys next